Binance Secures Strategic Stake in Dominant US Stock Token Custodian

Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has made a strategic investment in Alpaca, a key infrastructure provider for stock tokens and ETF custody. The deal, which extends beyond a simple capital injection, establishes an exclusive revenue-sharing agreement that gives Binance a direct financial interest in Alpaca's operations.

Under the terms of the agreement, Binance will receive 50% of the fees generated from Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) and 65% of the residual profits from Alpaca's user stock lending services. This structure signals a deep operational partnership between the two companies, rather than a passive investment.

The move marks Binance's formal entry into the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization space. By aligning with a company that controls an estimated 94% of the US stock token and ETF custody market, Binance has effectively secured a direct pipeline to global RWA trading liquidity. This positions the exchange to bridge traditional finance and decentralized markets, potentially allowing users to trade tokenized versions of stocks and ETFs with greater efficiency.